Monday, December 28, 2015

Joy

In Writer/Director David O. Russell’s Joy, the main character’s
mother (Virginia Madsen) is obsessed with TV Soap Operas and the initial
problem with this otherwise wonderful production is that for the first 20
minutes or so, the film plays like a Soap Opera with the only difference being
that it is acted by a superstar cast of actors, including Jennifer Lawrence as
Joy, Robert De Niro as her father, Diane Ladd as Joy’s grandmother and Isabella
Rossellini as her father’s new love.

It’s not until Bradley Cooper, as a QVC shopping channel
executive, comes on the scene that this film really takes off and, when it
does, it soars!But, the soaring is due
to the actors more than the script, which seems to put too much emphasis on the
real life story of Joy Mangano, who served as one of the Executive Producers,
instead of being more universal in its reach.

Despite its lame opening and script issues, Joy
still gets a 4.5 out of 5.

1 comment:

I went because of the all star cast. After the first 20 minutes, I almost walked out. REALLY slow and i thought uneven throughoutYou rating must be a result of the Christmas spirit because it was a gift. Love reading your reviews, Have a Happy New Year Bob

About Me

Brian Porzak: I am a cinephile who likes to view films with a live audience. My taste runs the gamut, including indies, studio films, foreign films and most all genres. Because I see so many films, friends often ask me what to see. So, I thought I'd blog about what is worth seeing or not. As a writer/filmmaker myself, I hope to give a more uplifting perspective than the typical critic. Filmmaking is tremendously difficult. Just because some problems might exist in a particular work does not, necessarily, destroy its enjoyability and I think that is necessary to point out to would-be viewers.
See www.Aix-en-Film.com